What you see above is a picture of Robert yesterday with his license to practice Psychology in the state of Kansas! After two months of trying to get them to help him he finally got together everything he needed and decided to drive to the office instead of mail it. That way he would be sure to get the woman to talk to him and hopefully speed up the process. The office is in Topeka which is only about an hour drive. He got there, they took all of his things that he brought to contribute to getting the license complete asap. And then made his license for him right then and there! It was amazing!! Robert said he almost did a happy dance in that office! He did offer to buy them a pizza or something to which they declined. But I believe the speed in which he received this license yesterday is due to a gracious God who responds to prayers! Praise God and thank you to any of y'all that prayed for us after I posted that update two days ago.
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Well, today marks the end of Robert's block leave and the beginning of getting back to real life. I'm grateful because it's hard to homeschool and manage the home while there isn't a set routine and our Daddy sets that routine with his work! Block leave was good. Although, half of it we were pretty sick. I got Robert on a detox after a full month of him being ill almost constantly. He has been much better! We did not go on our vacation just the two of us because we were not feeling well enough and we felt that we needed the time just resting at home. We did go to the homeschooling convention this last weekend and that was busy but good. I picked out a curriculum for math and writing for the girls. They both have a great interest in writing so I thought we would focus on that for a bit. As for everything else we are just using our Bible, the internet, and the library. But that is another post all together. ; )
Robert is feeling a bit better and ready to get back to counseling. Meanwhile he is wrestling with the Kansas Department of whatever, where he is suppose to renew his Psychologist license. The woman there is being very difficult and if she doesn't do her job then we will be out of a lot of money and Robert won't be able to work until the license is taken care of. Please join the children and I in praying that the Lord will pour out His grace on this problem. Robert doesn't need this worry. In addition, he is officially done with the military in August. He is looking for a job. There was one that looked very promising but it fell through. For now we are planning on staying here. And if at all possible Robert does not want to work on base as a civilian. So that is an area in which we are praying about. He did kill his first turkey with a bow and arrow a few days ago. So that was fun! Darby is doing well. She is very excited because she is getting baptized on April 19th! I suppose her testimony is a post for anther time as well. She is finishing up her third grade year in a couple of months. Bryse is up to her normal craziness. Stalking around the yard with a net hoping to catch a bird. Filling empty juice bottles with water and food coloring in hopes of tricking someone. Throwing raw eggs off of our upstairs porch into the yard. Tying everything to everything! I took the girls roller skating recently and after 30 minutes of holding her hand while her legs flew out from underneath her in every direction so fast it was blurry (much like a cartoon character) and inching around the rink, she looked up at me as serious as could be and asked if I was having a hard time keeping up with her! She makes me laugh until I hurt and makes me so mad I tell her fire is going to come out of my ears!! Cal is doing well. He went through a transitional period after Robert got back that seems to have subsided. He still worries about him going back to war, but overall is doing much better. He and Robert went on a Father/son camping trip with a church group a couple weekends ago and had a blast! This kid loves learning about the Lord and praying. He prays all the time. In the evening when we sing together he belts it out with his speech impediment and all! Which reminds me, we got his hearing checked a couple weeks ago and he hears very well. I still have to call and set up speech therapy for him but at least we know he doesn't have hearing problems. Deakin is here! He is about the same. Wild and woolly and as his Memaw calls him, A bull! He runs around and climbs everything and plays "bad guy" with Bryse and Cal. He wields a toy gun like the best of them! When we have Family worship he raises his hand to answer questions and then jabbers uncomprehendingly, which of course sets the kids into giggles. I don't really have much new either. We have a military ball in a couple of weeks and I'm trying to lose the few pounds that I gained when Robert got back. I have been working on the fall education plans for the girls for a few months now. Praying and allowing the Holy Spirit to lead and teach me how to teach them. It has taught me how to lean on Him even more and not on my (very limited) understanding. We started a large garden with another family and I have been busy learning how to do that. We are planting a LOT! So far; broccoli, cauliflower, peas, carrots, spinach, lettuce, blackberries, asparagus, raspberries, strawberries, brussel sprouts, and onions. I still have to plant potatoes for our spring planting. Otherwise, I am still plucking away. Praying for the grace I need to do everything I need to do. And He is faithful. : ) We were asked to do a family reading at a Sunrise Service to celebrate the Resurrection! Bryse recited 1 Peter 2:24, Darby recited 1 Peter 1:3-5, I recited Matthew 28:1-9, and Robert read 1 Corinthians 15. Cal didn't recite anything because he has issues with people staring at him, he does not like it! It was held at a friend's house that overlooks the Flint Hills and I must say, I've never been to such a beautiful sunrise service. You know, where you could actually see the sun rising! It was lovely. There was a cross put up with the sun rising right behind it and Cal loved that cross! That is where the top picture came from. Below is just a picture of our family afterward. We recently went to a family's house for dinner and learned a lot. This family is further along on their walk through salvation than us. They are a bit older, have twice the amount of children and have been seeking the Lord a bit longer than us. So it was an awesome opportunity to learn from them! As the Bible teaches about letting the older woman and man teach the younger. We are trying to learn to do this ourselves and were soooo thankful to a family willing to do it for us in such a purposeful way. : ) So they gave us some ideas for discipling our children and we have been implementing some of what they advised along with what we were already doing. So I thought I would share what we do in regards to discipling our children just in case some of those reading this are looking for ideas. Obviously, this is just what we have been doing in the last couple of months, depending on where our children are and how old they are and such. So each family is different and needs different things.
We like to watch a movie that is called the Gospel of Matthew. It is word for word the book of Matthew from the Bible. One of my favorite things about it is how the disciples and Jesus are portrayed. They are joyous. They push each other around playfully, they laugh at their amazement over the works that Jesus does, Jesus douses Peter with water for fun. It is very similar to watching some of the husbands at our Bible study tease each other. The kids love it and I'm amazed at how much they have memorized just from watching this movie so much. Robert has started leading Family Worship daily. It is amazing what we have seen as a result! Our children are really changing, like a heart change. Softer words are being used and more interest in the Bible is cropping up. Every evening we sit down in the living room and we pray, sing a song (right now we are working on learning Nothing but the Blood), and read a page out of our The Gospel Story Bible. This is a great book! We went through Jesus Storybook Bible until I feared the girls would memorize it and then we moved on to this book. It's a little more mature. Then we talk about the lesson we learned from that book. Then the three older kids take turns standing up and practicing the verses they are working on memorizing. All the while Deakin is working on his "sitting quietly" skills. Which are limited, to say the least. ; ) In the mornings we read a chapter from Matthew while eating breakfast. Then we write down prayer requests into our "Prayer Book" (It's just a notebook) and pray before we begin the day in earnest. I keep two columns going in the book so that when a prayer request is answered we can go back and write it down. We have also started something called "The Question Box". It is a kleenex box that we decorated and made a pocket on the side for slips of paper and pen. The kids are able to put questions about the bible and God into it any time they feel like it. And then during dinner Daddy will take a question out of the box and answer it for them. This is so handy because the kids sometimes can think of the most inopportune time to ask these deep questions! And we say, "We'll talk about it later!" But then we forget and it never gets answered! So this gives us a specific time to answer these hard questions and gives the children a chance to write out their question right when it crops up. So that is where we are at this season in life! What works for you in discipling your children? "You shall teach them to your children, talking of them when you are sitting in your house, and when you are walking by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise." Deuteronomy 11:19 We are sick. We have been sick for a few weeks, off and on. About a month ago three of the kids had ear infections and I was exhausted and agreed to antibiotics. Now all three of those kids are getting hit with everything. Antibiotics kill all bacteria causing a crippling affect on the immune systems ability to fight off illness. So now those three kids are having a really hard time during such a bad time of year for sickness. So we are hunkering down and working really hard at getting our immune systems back up to par. Robert and I are sick too. Robert isn't too shocking since his body is still adjusting to a different climate and environment. But I almost never get sick, so you know it's bad! Mainly we are dealing with drainage, sore throats, achey, and unproductive, painful coughs. This has caused us to cancel part of our trip and post pone the rest of it. : ( Which means we have very sad kids. So I thought I would share some of the things we do when we are dealing with illness. Namely, cough and immune support remedies. I typically use homeopathy, and I have lately, but because of dairy allergies and the lack of homeopathic remedies that don't use a base of lactose I have been learning other alternatives. The above picture shows the cough syrups I had simmering this morning. The one on the left is a recipe my friend Melissa taught me except I added one ingredient. And the one on the right is a super easy recipe that I learned on line. For simplicity sake I will call the one on the left Herbal Cough Syrup and the one on the right Onion Honey Syrup. Almost anyone can make Onion Honey Syrup with what they already have in the house! And I can definitely sing it's praises. The Herbal Cough Syrup cured Cal and I of pneumonia a couple years ago. And I make it a few times a year whenever one of the kids is suffering from a cough that needs a little help breaking up the mucous. Above is the end product! Below I will share the recipes! Keep in mind that I made more than usual of each because so many in our family need them. Typically I would make about half as much.
Herbal Cough Syrup (the one on the left in the picture) -1/4 cup of licorice root -1/4 cup of mullein leaf -1/4 cup of marshmallow root (for sore throat) Cover herbs with filtered water in a small sauce pan. Put over low heat and let simmer for 30-45 minutes. Drain the liquid and mix with 2 Tbls of honey (preferably raw, local). Sometimes I add cinnamon too. I didn't this time. *Give 1 tsp (for adults 1 Tbs) every 30 minutes or longer. It tastes like concentrated sweetened tea. Bryse loves it! Really, there are so many herbs that are helpful with coughs but I keep these herbs in my medicine cabinet all the time, so these are easiest for us. Onion Honey Syrup -One onion -Enough honey to cover the onion(preferably raw and local) -Optional: A few cloves are garlic chopped up Put the chopped onion and garlic in a small saucepan and cover with honey. Simmer on very low heat for 30-45 minutes, until onion is cooked soft. You can drain if you want, but I try to leave some in the syrup because it doesn't hurt anything and the longer the herbs are in the honey the more healing power you get from them! *Give 1 tsp (for adults 1 Tbs) every 30 minutes or longer. Deakin is a fan of this one! This one is very basic, helps for any cold or cough, and if you put the garlic in there then you are really helping your immune system. Below is another recipe. You can actually find lots of variations of this recipe all over the internet. http://www.keeperofthehome.org/2009/11/homemade-cough-and-cold-syrup.html We have not used allopathic cough drops or syrups or suppressants in years! The reason for this is because we learned that God gave our bodies the ability to cough for a very good reason. To get out what doesn't belong there! So suppressing the cough or trying to stop it does the opposite of what the cough is trying to do. So now we use remedies that sometimes make us cough more or make our coughs sound worse, but in the long run we get better much quicker! I have both of the cough syrups sitting out and am giving them to the kids all day today. Already Cal's cough sounds less dry and more moist which makes me very happy. Now I know that (Lord willing) nothing will settle in his chest causing a longer, worse illness. Now on to immune support and supplements. I have all the kids on probiotics. Trying to help their immune system restore some of the good bacteria that the antibiotics destroyed. Echinacea, golden seal, vitamin C, vitamin D, and zinc along with their normal multi vitamin. If we had elderberry syrup we would be doing that too, but I'm out. For the boys (who can't swallow a pill yet) I open the probiotic and echinacea capsules into a bowl, add some cinnamon and cover with honey. Stir it up and then feed it to them with a spoon. You can also mix those vitamins with applesauce or DF yogurt but I tend to forget unless I just do honey when I give them their normal chewable multi and gummy zinc/vitamin D. We also do a lot of garlic during illness. I take a cut up clove like a pill twice a day for a few days. And I use my neti pot every night before bed to help with drainage and congestion. Also adding a tablespoon of Apple Cider Vinegar to a glass of water and drinking it throughout the day is very helpful for colds. I'm not even gonna touch essential oils today because it will take too long! Ha! During the summer we just do a mulit vitamin most of the time. But this time of year and during illness, we do a LOT of supplements! And when I'm pregnant, good grief! It's ridiculous! But good. Anyway, I didn't have any new pictures to share today so I thought I would post about this since it's fresh on my mind. And here is the story. So the kids were totally clueless. Even though I hung the banner that day and everything! I made up some impressive fibs for Darby on why we were hanging the banner so early and she bought it. Our babysitter is so calm and she played everything really cool. I left like I was going out to dinner with a friend but I put the still camera and video camera in my bag instead of normal purse stuff. When a group comes back from deployment they have what is called a "redeployment ceremony" before they release the soldiers to be with their families. It consists of them marching in and words being said about doing a good job or whatever. From everything I've heard about this ceremony it is almost never on time and lasts an agonizingly long time for the families waiting and watching to be back in their soldier's arms. The ceremony was to start at 3:30. I left the house about 3:10 and quickly realized I was going to be cutting it close. I knew I would be on time but not early. So when I got within sight of the building and saw soldiers and their families walking down the road toward their cars already at 3:29 I was very upset. It was obvious that I had missed it. Cars were parked all along the sides of the road and I found two cars that had a little bit of space between them and swerved through them and parked in the ditch. I got out and ran the rest of the way. It turns out that they started a little early, marched all the soldiers in and then said nothing! Just released them immeadiatly! Our pastor and his wife, and our bible study leader and his wife were there for the whole thing because they knew to be early. And the photographer was waiting for me right inside the door so she flagged me down and then followed me when I saw Robert through the crowd. From there we caravaned home to surprise the kids! Robert injured his back a couple days before getting home so that is why he is standing wierd in the video.
Myself, the photographer, and Robert were standing in the yard and I had texted the babysitter to tell her that she should tell the kids that there is a new netlix movie in the mail so they should go outside to check the mail. She had all three of the younger kids' shoes on and sent Darby to her room to get her shoes on. At which point Darby decided randomly to look outside and saw us there. They say she screamed all the way down the hallway, forgetting her shoes all together. So we didn't get to see her surprised face. And that is also why she screams before she even sees Daddy right after coming out of the door. So there ya have it! Hope you enjoy the video! Okay so this has been more exciting than waiting for a new baby and more frustating than waiting to go into labor!! Losing my mind! But it's here! HE is here. By the grace of an amazing God my husband is home and back in my arms! I went to the ceremony without the kids. We are hoping to grab some dinner and hang out for a bit and then head home to surprise the kids who only know that Daddy should be home sometime in the next couple of weeks. They think I went out with a girlfriend! I will hopefully get some good pictures of them being surprised and video too. If I can figure out how to load the video onto youtube, then I will post it as soon as possible!
I have several posts saved that I'm slowly working on but don't feel ready to post any of them. But I know I'm not posting much lately. Seems like life is sorta boring lately. But I know some of our family likes any update so I thought I would just do a boring update. ; )
A friend sent the kids $5 Sonic gift cards each for Christmas and you would've thought they won the lottery! Ha! So the other day after a very productive day of homeschooling we decided to go to Sonic. I was just going to let Cal get a drink because Sonic is one of the ONLY restaurants that hasn't created an allergen menu or even released their ingredients so that you can read them and figure out what is without your allergen. This has always been so sad for me because I do so love their tator tots. And also we live in a small town with barely any place to eat when in a hurry. We do Freddie's and Arby's and that is about it! So when we were there the other day I thought I would check just to make sure that they hadn't gotten their act together and printed an allergen menu. WELL!! They had! Like, real recently! And guess what!? Not only are their tator tots dairy free but their onion rings are too!! Ha! It was a great day. Thank you Sonic. We have finally gotten back into a nice groove with lessons. Darby's attitude has been good and she has been working hard and I have been staying up on my work for it too. We still pray every morning for it though. Lord knows what a huge calling He has given such a slow mama. But He does so like to work through the weak. Both of the girls got their Book It coupons in the month of December for the first time. So we went to Pizza Hut. Which means me and boys get a hand tossed (only crust that is DF) without cheese. Also, I remembered that their breadsticks are DF but then when we started eating them I thought, yeah, I'm wrong. After looking it up I was, in fact, mistaken. Papa John's breadsticks are the ones that are DF not Pizza Hut. But I thought, oh well, it will be a good test to see if either of them had outgrown their allergy. They hadn't. Both were vomiting and diarrheaing within a few hours. It lasted a few days. Which was bad. And, ofcourse, Deakin was worse. He threatened with dehydration and wouldn't drink anything from a cup, only wanted to nurse. That was almost two weeks ago. We have been slowly organizing and deep cleaning the house for Robert's return. He has the whole month of March off and we are planning a family vacation in Branson! I guess the last time we went anywhere as a family was a few days to Atlanta, GA the weekend after Jasper's death. And that was just a couple of days. So we are excited to spend some time together. Branson was the kids' first choice. And we are hoping to go to Silver Dollar City on their opening day before heading back home. We are also hoping to get away, just mommy and daddy! That is still in the planning stages. Also, on a not so boring note, Robert is getting out of the Army in August! That is sort of a recent decision that the Lord made easy for us. As far as what comes after August, do us a favor. Ask God and let us know what He says! Ha! Seriously though, we are in deep prayer and searching for what He has for us next. He has a plan for His glory and we want to be a part of it! Wish I had pictures to show of Christmas but I actually didn't take any. I was too busy placing the video camera in a place that could get the shot and situating my iphone so that Robert could watch on facetime. And then making sure that no child walked or stood in the way of either! It was madness!
We made some Christmas treats for our pastor and neighbor and other close friends. Robert bought the girls a cardboard play house that you can color which needed to be kept clear of any busy boy hands. So I used several large boxes and made a playhouse for the boys too. That was Christmas Eve. My parents drove in that night to surprise the kids the next morning. And dad put together the train table Robert got for the boys. I need to take a picture of that too. Haven't gotten around to it. Before mom and dad left the day after Christmas I got them to help me put away my decorations and tree. We are officially in End-of-Deployment-Preperation mode. We don't have a for sure date for him coming back (sometime in February)but I am taking it slow and starting to organize and give the house a good cleaning. Getting the carpets cleaned and the van detailed, trying to get the leaves picked up in the yard.... We are very excited for Daddy to come home and want to be able to relax with him! We will not be sharing when he will be back for sure for security purposes. And also because the girls want to be surprised and the fewer people that know the more likely that will happen. You do have my vow that I will do everything in my power to video tape their reuniting and, I guess post it on youtube? I've never done that but it's the only way I can show it on the blog too. I will also be posting a few pictures today since it is Friday. But I do that with my phone app since my pictures are always on my phone anyway. So I will get on that soon, hopefully. Peace Out friends and have a happy new year, since I probably won't blog again until 2013. On December 2nd we went to a local show called Bethlehem Revisited. A church in Manhattan, KS put it on. We visited this church when we first moved here and really liked it. But the drive was a bit too much in Robert's opinion. Evidently they do this every Christmas and it is free and very popular. We drove out to a park in Keats, KS and from there (after a good bit of a wait) we get on a school bus and they took us to a more remote area. Everyone in this place are dressed biblically and carry lanterns and are standing around fires to warm themselves. As a group of about 30 they take you up into the woods on a slight incline. I wore Deakin on my back and people in our church helped with the other kids. The first stop was Moses. He was standing by a fire and told us about how the world came to be. Basically a short overview of the first five books of the bible. And always pointing toward the promise of the messiah! We went walking a little further to the next station where there was Abraham by his fire telling his story. Further on there was Micah and a few other prophets who told about the coming Christ. All through out this stations there were children every now and then yelling, "He is coming!!" Finally we got to watch the scene of the angel coming to Mary and telling her she would give birth to the waited Messiah. And from there we watched, at several different stations, the Christmas story. Complete with a short walk through the busy street in Bethlehem with people trying to sell us things. Eventually we got to the long awaited stable and got to sing Silent Night around a live "baby Jesus". Then we watched the Priest Simeon bless Jesus and warn Mary of how much sorrow she would feel. And got to see a cross and here the story of Jesus being killed and buried. There was the last station with a grave and a large bolder moved aside. It concluded with a small room built outside where our guide spent about ten minutes laying out the Gospel for the group to hear. It was awesome! And such a great reminder of the amazing gift we have in our Redeemer! I didn't get a lot of pictures but here are a few. I wish I had a picture of the manger but I was video taping at that point. The kids loved this so much. I absolutely loved that the program reminds us that even the Old Testament is about Jesus. At one point when a speaker was talking about the wise men in a dramatic way he fell to his knees talking about how they had fallen to their knees to worship Jesus. Cal was listening intently and went to his knees at the same time, it was such a sweet moment.
I hope and pray that all of you that may read this will be reminded of the amazing miracle of God becoming man as a sacrifice for us. Celebrate this miracle and never forget it. |
LindseyI'm the mama and wife. Updating you on our life! Archives
January 2022
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